I like so much about that title, that it’s tough to know what’s the best: Is it that he gave himself a score and then bragged about the score he gave himself as if it’s objective? Is it that even by his own reckoning, he only won the meeting by 1 point? Is it the fact that the title implies that this is the beginning, rather than the middle of a process that has been going on for years? Is it that the Federal government is offering to give his district money, and he’s complaining about it? Is it that he describes an ostensibly closed door meeting as a debate? Is it that Secretary LaHood probably didn’t even know that there was a game afoot?

Those are all good choices to be sure, but I think the best is that he never defines the scale that 1 to 0 is on or how one earns a point. So here is some speculation:

Score half a point per guest you treat like a jerk

The number of goats each brought to the meeting

One point per person videotaping someone without their permission (more on that later in the piece)

On a scale of 0 to 10 who Senator Benton likes the best

A scale of 0 to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 and the numbers were pulled randomly

A scale of -5 to 5 who polkas the best

Whoever left the meeting with the most smug satisfaction gets a point

1/3 of a point each time you masturbate to your own press release

Smallest penis gets a point

One point if you’re scared of the idea of public transportation

Oh my God, we’re not even into the meat of the press release yet. Courage. Here we go.

Sen. Don Benton says there’s no question that the people of Clark County came out ahead this morning when he and members of the Senate Majority Coalition Caucus went toe-to-toe with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood over the Columbia River Crossing project.

That’s a rather fancy way of saying I sat across a table with a guy who offered me a bunch of money to help build a bridge, but I wanted to build a different bridge, and probably more money. Also, no question? If you asked everyone in Clark County there would be 100% agreement on this opinion?

“I’ve been working hard to keep our coalition members informed about the many significant flaws in the CRC project, so we were ready with questions when Governor Inslee brought Secretary LaHood in to lobby our coalition this morning. As a result, it wasn’t even a fair fight. I’d say we schooled the transportation secretary in a way he couldn’t possibly have expected,” said Benton, R-Vancouver, noting LaHood’s visit is part of a CRC propaganda blitz at the Capitol today.

I should say here I don’t really have an opinion on the Columbia River Crossing. Still, imagine if a Seattle legislator acted this way to the Secretary of Transportation over, say, Highway 99. The outrage from the people who are perpetually outraged that Seattle exists would be amazing. I mean the meeting was of the Majority Caucus and not the GOP ostensibly in part because Seattle’s legislators are too arrogant.

“I guess the governor thought he could strong-arm the Senate Majority Coalition into rolling over by bringing the D.C. folks in to give us the same ‘this bridge or no bridge’ lecture he’s been delivering. Instead, the transportation secretary had his hat handed to him, and I have to believe I will find even more support now for my efforts to force a redesign of the CRC project.”

I guess they were hoping that saying, “we have a fuckton of money, here take it” would at least keep the Majority Coalition from whining like a bunch of little babies. That was obviously incorrect.

Benton said he and other coalition members let LaHood have it on the whole range of CRC concerns: how the bridge height would cost Clark County thousands of permanent jobs, how replacing the Interstate 5 bridge without addressing the corridor as a whole would fail to reduce commute times from Clark County to Portland by more than one minute, the financial liability that would go with including an extension of light rail from Portland, and more.

I have no idea, again, if those are valid concerns. But anyone who is opposing getting light rail in the same sentence he worries about commutes into Portland is an idiot. Light rail will obviously help Vancouver commuters.

Project supporters want the Legislature to authorize a $450 million allocation, which would serve as Washington’s share of the $3.5 billion CRC project; with less than three weeks to go in the 2013 legislative session, Benton said, the writing on the wall is becoming clearer.

There is literally no cliche that this press release won’t include.

“I was very proud of how our coalition joined me in standing up for the people of Clark County,” said Benton, who is the coalition’s deputy leader. “The governor and the CRC supporters are obviously getting more desperate by the day; they see how time is running out to get the Legislature to go along with this boondoggle.”

They’d like to spend money in your neck of the woods. You can disagree with if and how, but come the fuck on.

“The best thing the governor can do now, after seeing that his federal emissary couldn’t sell this boondoggle to our coalition, is to agree to a redesign of the project.”

Because a meeting went poorly (in that people who wanted to act like asses acted like asses) we have to start over. Obviously.

Anyway, I wasn’t the only person to notice that this is an embarrassment. Jim Camden of the Spokesman-Review has a great take on it (I think the S-R has a limited number of clicks, but I’ve never hit it). Really, sometimes you need to just write in disbelief like I’ve been doing for several paragraphs now, but sometimes the journalistic prose is the way to go.

When LaHood and Inslee stopped by the Senate Republican Caucus room to urge them to pass a transportation budget in it with money for the bridge, and thus allow the state to get its hands on lots of federal money, he was, to put it mildly, rebuffed by opponents like Sen. Don Benton of Vancouver. All while someone was videotaping the exchange.

Later that day Inslee and LaHood held a press conference in the governor’s conference room to make a public appeal for the Legislature to vote for money for the bridge. As soon as they left, Benton emerged from the back of the room to hold a counter press conference to say that it shouldn’t. The senator’s office later circulated a press release exclaiming he had “schooled” LaHood on the bridge and declared the score “Benton 1, transportation secretary 0”. the caucus sent out a link to a YouTube clip of their discussion in the caucus room.

This appalled Senate Democrats, who thought a cabinet secretary should be treated with a greater modicum of respect, and shouldn’t be taping conversations without his permission. Senate Republicans promptly took the video clip off YouTube, and Majority Leader Rodney Tom of Medina later teol [sic] the Seattle Times it had been inadvertently posted, although how it could be edited with an intro, sent to YouTube, a link created and connected to a tweet isn’t immediately clear.

Shorter Don Benton. “I’m a fiscally responsible conservative so I want the State of Washington to spend 5-6 times as much for a bridge just to keep light rail from ever getting over a cheaper bridge. Look at me. I saved you $450 million. Then I spent $3B.”

You forgot one other hilarious aspect: What Benton and his fellow obstructionists in the Senate did was undoubtably motivated in large part by partisanship – sticking it to the federal guv’mint and the Transportation Department because they’re run by Democrats. Except that LaHood is a Republican – a former longtime Congressman from downstate Illinois that Obama picked in 2008 to run Transportation.

Poor LaHood has had to oversee yahoos from all over the country doing things like turning down money for local light rail, because, federal money! Public transit! Evil abounds! I’m sure he’s pretty bored with petty clowns like Benton by now, and is really glad he’s not still in Congress where he’d have to work with them in his own caucus every day.

Step on a ten dollar bill to pick up a nickel. The issue really is that his campaign financiers and drinking buddies aren’t getting their palms greased as much as he thinks they should. His cut isn’t big enough is all.

Legislators represent the interests of those they represent. Opposition to the project largely comes down to the inclusion in it of light rail. Project opponents, notably Sen. Don Benton, R-Vancouver, point out that Clark County voters last November rejected a 0.1 percent increase in their sales tax to help pay for the light rail aspect of the project.

They also say the bridge as currently conceived is too low, and that three businesses upriver of the bridge would likely have to relocate because they would be unable to fit their goods under a bridge with 116 feet of clearance. The current span is roughly 50 feet higher and, unlike its planned replacement, is a drawbridge.

# 7: “….Isn’t now about the time that Obama finds some money for Clark County? I believe that’s how the game is played.”

Sounds to me that is exactly what President Obama is doing – trying to give Clark County money, which they are rejecting.

As for the bridge height, I think that’s a minor issue. Bridges and highways frequently require businesses to relocate for the greater good. And a drawbridge is a bad alternative for a major interstate highway for a number of reasons, which I don’t really need to explain.

I fail to see why Benton is so anti-light rail, except that he might see it as the nose of the camel under the tent. “If we let that happen, someday we will be just like Seattle, with Gays and such marrying! We live on the other side of the river from Portland because we don’t want to live there, and we don’t want them here, either!”

Bridges and highways frequently require businesses to relocate for the greater good.

Well, yeah. If the highway needs to run through your parking lot, you’ll be compensated but forced to move.

But what if the highway doesn’t affect your land but still affects your ability to conduct business?

I haven’t read that there’s compensation being paid to the businesses Benton thinks will be affected. Is there?

If not, then perhaps he’s got a point.

And as far as Benton’s opposition to light rail, my understanding is that he sees it as requiring repeated monetary support and he likely thinks that by linking to it, Washington will be paying into that.

Which is different from the buses and cars that will be running over that bridge how? Well, except for the long term costs of light- rail being lower, leaving more money in the pockets of those who ride rather than drive, and requiring fewer parking spaces in Portland which allows for better development patterns.

I remember seeing a news piece a few months ago about a proposal, that would do it in phases. The first one, would involve an upgrade to BNSF’ s crossing downriver. It involves moving the drawspan there to the center, which would allow vessels to avoid fighting the river current, and eliminate 95% of the openings of the Interstate Bridge.

There’s a faction in Vancouver that hates mass transit; they’ve steadily reduced their bus system to near uselessness. I expect they’re afraid that people who can’t afford cars will be easily able to get to Vancouver. There’s probably racism in it, as well.

Thanks. But, due to first hand experience, I can see why some would want light rail on the CRC, which would be an extension of the MAX Yellow line, it would be a straighter shot into Downtown. Although commuter rail on the BNSF route would be offset by higher speeds. I have rode Amtrak Cascades a couple times,it seems like it’s a roundabout route from the river to Union Station. Plus, if they did do commuter rail, don’t do the Westside Express as a baseline, although in TriMet’ s defense, it was not their idea, idea but Washington County’s idea, and the use of the Colorado Railcar Diesel Multiple Units was dictated by a different FRA and a host railroad that did not want to shift freight traffic to Night. Today, the FRA is a little more willing to allow the lighter.European designs to share track with freight trains.

The host railroad that the Westside Express runs on, between Beaverton(where it connects with the MAX Red and Blue lines), and Wilsonville, is the Portland and Western, owned by short-line conglomerate Gennesse and Wyoming. There are discussions to extend the WES to Salem.

I have yet to find what three businesses would need to relocate. If that relocation necessity is legit then ask the feds to include that relocation in their funding. I’ll bet that the Oregon econ dev folks would love to have them relocate on the south side of the river.

So, if it’s less expensive to do it as proposed because the Feds kick in money, does that truly mean it’s less expensive

The current proposal with light-rail is less expensive regardless of who’s paying for it because when you look at the cost to build it and the the longterm costs of operating a bridge with light-rail that can get X number of people across it per day is cheaper than the cost of operating a bridge that the same number of people cross in cars.

Plus, if you need to expand capacity on the light rail bridge you just add another car to the trains, where as on the non-light-rail bridge your completely fucked. With everyone crossing the bridge in SOV’s you also have to expand street networks to handle the cars and maintain parking garages that don’t generate much tax revenue when you could be putting housing and offices in that same space that will generate grater rents and taxes. Then there’s all the pollution and environmental mitigation that needs to happen from cars that doesn’t have to happen if people are taking light-rail and walking.

So yeah, the light-rail bridge is a better deal and Don Benton’s an idiot.

Interestingly all of the concerns of the anti-light rail crowd were brought up and addressed years ago, as were those who demand a third bridge. The arrogance of the group is astounding. They are effectively killing any chance of ANY new crossing for a very long time.

Know this: the bridge height has nothing to do with light rail and everything to do with trucks’ ability to climb a higher grade , and still have it land in Vancouver. Unless of course we build another drawbridge. That was considered too. As was a third bridge.

In other PNW Passenger rail news, the first of the 2 new trainsets for Amtrak Cascades that ODOT bought has been delivered. The train arrived at the Amtrak Maintenance Facility in Seattle on Monday Night.(THe trains, with TALGO personnel supervising, are maintained in Seattle at the before-mentioned maintenance facility in the King Street Coachyard). After more tests and familiarization training(they are an advanced model compared to what is already in use between Eugene and Vancouver B.C.), the goal is to have them in service before the end of summer.

Did you hear about the baseball team recently that ran up a 65-0 score before the game was called by the umpire – in the third inning! By the second inning the winning team had benched all it’s starters and was playing everyone off the bench, not taking extra bases or steals, etc. The league had a “mercy rule”, but it only applied in the fifth inning. The game wasn’t ended due to the score, it was either called on account of darkness or rain, I forget which. The winning coach felt pretty bad about it – he had pleaded with the umpire to stop the game late in the second inning, but the umpire said he had no authority to do so.

The Department of Homeland Security is alerting Texas authorities to be on the lookout for a suspected member of the Somalia-based Al Shabaab terrorist group who might be attempting to travel to the U.S. through Mexico, a security expert who has seen the memo tells FOXNews.com.

The warning follows an indictment unsealed this month in Texas federal court that accuses a Somali man in Texas of running a “large-scale smuggling enterprise” responsible for bringing hundreds of Somalis from Brazil through South America and eventually across the Mexican border. Many of the illegal immigrants, who court records say were given fake IDs, are alleged to have ties to other now-defunct Somalian terror organizations that have merged with active organizations like Al Shabaab, al-Barakat and Al-Ittihad Al-Islami.

Sux to be uninformed and a leftist moron. That’s OWS moron Fraggy.

Thanks for playing the fool again!

Now to the bridge. Puddy heads to Portland every so often. A working bridge allows Puddy to earn $.52 per mile and not take a puddle jumper plane! So Clark County doesn’t want light rail on the bridge. Okay, the people have spoken. Isn’t that what we heard last November? Think of all those great paying union jobs being blocked!

“Our Union and its members have supported President Obama and his Administration for both of his terms in office.

But regrettably, our concerns over certain provisions in the ACA have not been addressed, or in some instances, totally ignored. In the rush to achieve its passage, many of the Act’s provisions were not fully conceived, resulting in unintended consequences that are inconsistent with the promise that those who were satisfied with their employer sponsored coverage could keep it.

PuddyCommentary: A watershed moment. The snowball has been formed at the top of the mountain!

Puddy went back through the HA archives (using Google of course) and did not find a similar political attack on Guvnur Queen Gregoire during a similar tragedy of five people dying in the Anacortes Tesoro Oil Refinery explosion. In that case it couldn’t be the lack of safety inspectors because we all know the Weally DUMB Wabbit would have told us, right?

Maybe the unemployed moron ylb can save the Weally DUMB Wabbit’s ASS by proving Puddy wrong. Puddy not worried about that outcome!

Not only is the DUMB Wabbit a jackASS, he has no sympathy for those who died. The Weally DUMB Wabbit is just like Lib da Schmucko, everything is held through the lens of politics; no matter the circumstances or the number of deaths involved in the tragedy.

To the Weally DUMB Wabbit sympathy is between shit and syphilis in the dictionary. Most everything the Weally DUMB Wabbit places on HA is shit, and lately he’s been demonstrating syphilis on the brain.

U need help Weally DUMB Wabbit. 15 dead and you make a useless vile insipid political attack while their bodies probably burned up or were killed by the explosion concussion!

U R disgusting Weally DUMB Wabbit!

Wait for it… a certain crazed databaze owner will be posting weally weally soon in defense…

An “excellent report” on Obummer’s stimulus and how it almost “worked”! $833 Billion claimed against FY2009 and used by libtards against Bush when Bush left office months before. The sanitizing light of truth!

From the point of view of Benton’s constituent base, it’s probably not so much about commuting to work as it is to be able to live in Washington to duck the Oregon state income tax but avoid the Washington sales tax by driving across the river to buy tons of stuff at Wal-Mart, Bi-Mart and GI Joe’s–most of ’em wouldn’t be caught dead in a commie-run establishment like Costco. There’s a huge mall that was built in Vancouver in the 90’s that’s now about two-thirds vacant. The surviving tenants struggle along on the meager business that comes from out-of-towners staying at the nearby row of moderately-priced hotels.

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